Publications

Recent reports and publications from Project Information Literacy (PIL). All materials produced by PIL are open access and may be re-used for non-commercial uses without PIL's permission. We ask that PIL and report be appropriately cited when re-used.

Project Information Literacy (PIL) has conducted six studies since 2008 to investigate what it is like to be a college student in the digital age. Survey and interview data has been collected from more than 11,000 US college students to investigate how they find, evaluate, and use information for their course work and for addressing issues that arise in their everyday lives.

This paper highlights findings from these studies. Findings from the six studies suggest these students use strategies driven by efficiency and predictability in order to manage and control the vast amount of information that is available to them. PIL's typology is reviewed about the four information contexts undergraduates seek during their research processes.

Podcasts, Webcasts, and Interviews

"The New Knowledge Worker." A Radio Berkman podcast interview at Harvard's Berkman Center with David Weinberger about PIL's 2012 study and how recent college graduates solve information problems in the workplace, March 14, 2013 (18:51 minutes).

"Alison Head on What Students Do in Libraries." A Radio Berkman podcast interview at Harvard's Berkman Center with David Weinberger about PIL's 2011 study and how recent college graduates use libraries and technology in academic libraries during crunch time (two weeks before final exams). December 11, 2011 (26:28 minutes).

"Michael Eisenberg: How Students Manage Technology and Multitasking." A Webcast by Michael Eisenberg, who discusses Project Information Literacy findings and what we can learn from the ongoing study of college students, including discussion of PIL's study about how students manage technology during the final weeks of the term. Presented at the University of British Columbia's Irving K. Barber Centre and hosted by the School of Library, Archival, and Information Studies and the School Library Day Colloquium on Nov. 2, 2011 (1 hour, 23 mins.).